ranking

The global ranking in any sport is something that should be beyond any doubt merit based, and only merit based. And the second “conditio sine qua non” is all countries/participants should get the same opportunities to earn points. No one should be excluded. I think we can all agree without these two conditions you can […]

Allow me to postpone my Rio review until the dust has settled and emotions are not (or less) in play. But maybe just two quick observations already before I will shortly discuss the new (FIH) ranking after the Games. First: please let’s forget the experiment of the blue pitch for future tournaments. It has no advantages […]

Rio is getting close and Samba is in the air… Teams and coaches are gearing up to make the final selection for the Rio Olympics. Or as the FIH would say “The torch is lit for #sambasticks”. At the London Olympic park will be played the 2016 Champions Trophy. This once great tournament has been reduced […]

A couple of weeks ago I wrote a column about the world ranking as it’s being used by the FIH: “Change or kill the world ranking“. As you will have guessed I’m not a big fan of the current ranking system in use. The system currently used by the FIH takes into account invitational tournaments such […]

Some two years ago I wrote a first blog (My own world ranking) about my reservations with the way the current FIH global ranking is set up. This week week we were offered the newest release of still the same old ranking by the FIH. No real big surprises, as usual… but I still have some […]

The #RoadtoRio seems to be the hashtag of this summer in the world of hockey. Seven nations have qualified, five to go! The Road to Rio has, above all, lots and lots of tournaments along the way… The IOC prefers for international federations to offer at least two qualification options for taking part in the Games. So […]

The World Cup has been amazing, a hockey fest with over 250.000 supporters in The Hague and 350 million viewers across the globe, so we were told… I am sure this will be so for most of the hockey fans all over the world. Two days after the final I must admit I’m still having […]

Almost a year ago I wrote a blog “My own world ranking” just before the European Cup played in Belgium. So today I’m risking it again to make my predictions for the World Cup known beforehand and publishing my own world ranking. Two different things all together of course because the world ranking is not always […]

The international hockey federation FIH published their new world ranking today. As usual and expected a document without surprises… In a sport such as tennis the fluctuations in the ranking are somewhat more visible because players can only accumulate points for one year. Because every year the same important tournaments are being organised and points […]